This blog explores a family history search. It addresses genealogy, Jewish heritage travel and artwork. It has taken the author to Belarus, the Ukraine and Poland where she visited her ancestral towns as well as Lithuania where she studied Yiddish at the Vilnius Yiddish Institute. As the author is both an artist and a genealogist, the blog also addresses her artwork related to her family and cultural history.

Pages

Monday, April 21, 2014

To Do

Figure out how trees bow
Make alephs spark yellow in smoke
Redo the stars in the sky
Give the moon room to breath

How's that for a to do list? That's how I started my latest work in the studio. Can you see how poetry evolves quite naturally?

Tree Blessings

Trees bend
Bestowing blessings,
Gently they incline their heads,
A gentle nod.
Or do their backs curve,
Shadowed neath the arch,
Looming large above
Perhaps a curtsy
Wider at the bottom
Boughs extend
As tops tip forward daintily,
A moonbeam
Trapped in treetops
Shines its grace

I'm actually trying to figure out how trees bestow their blessings. A phrase from a poem, not even sure how it arose and now I try to picture it. I began with a gentle nod of the treetop, but may play with different imagery of trees bowing or curtsying.

I am struck by the word "play". I was recently told by a five year old grandson that I say that a lot as I taught him how to draw on an iPad ap. Play with it. Experiment, I coached. I suspect he knows how to play better than I do, but there is an element of play in all of this. Sometimes play leads us in interesting directions. Play requires some trust. What if it doesn't work? We slowly learn to trust that if it doesn't we can follow our trail of breadcrumbs out of the forest. The painting will survive our explorations.

So small adjustments now. A line I like by the train tracks. Some color in the smoke, some bricks in the chimney. Treetops gently incline, sparks of yellow and room for the moon to breath.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Facebook Badge

Followers

Subscribe To

Follow by Email

Welcome

Welcome to this blog. In these pages I address the issues that are of deep interest to me. I take you on my travels to Eastern Europe, my observations about the former and present Jewish communities in those countries and the response of those countries to their history. I capture this in both words and artwork and frequently share my artwork in these pages. In addition I address my genealogy research based on family who originated in many of the places I explore. This has been a process of discovery for me and I invite you to join me on this journey.

If you are interested in subscribing to this blog click on the subscribe link or go to the Facebook link under links.

Please note that the contents of these pages are subject to copyright. If you wish to use text or images please e-mail a request.

About Me

Susan Weinberg researches, paints and writes about family, cultural and community history. Her family history interests and travel frequently inform her artwork.
Susan writes of her travel to ancestral towns throughout Eastern Europe and her artwork based on those communities.
Susan has exhibited her artwork nationally and internationally. Her most recent body of work is the Jewish Identity and Legacy project, a project which includes oral history and art creation. Based in Minneapolis-St Paul, Susan creates artwork and does genealogy consulting. She speaks frequently on her artwork and genealogy topics. She maintains two blogs, Layers of the Onion with a family history and art focus and Creative Connections on the Minneapolis Jewish Artists' Lab.